Punjabi Antenna
Relevant shows on eroding culture
Randeep Wadehra

Scholars have recently expressed concern on TV over the threat to the Punjabi language and litrature

There are three-way symbioses among culture, literature and language. A culture’s ingredients include beliefs, behaviour, language and the entire way of life of a particular time or group of people. It also comprises works of art, inventions and technology. However, it is essentially a combination of traditions, customs and ceremonies — something one realised while watching Khirki on Doordarshan Jalandhar, wherein rituals pertaining to a child’s birth were depicted.

An aesthetical definition may describe culture as the intellectual and artistic achievements of a society. This is where literature specifically comes into play as it articulates, moulds and burnishes a society’s identity, worldview as well as its myriad aspirations, wherein language plays a vital role. To quote the late US poet Ezra Pound: "Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree."

On DDJ’s Sunday morning programme, the importance of one’s language and cultural roots was emphasised. The invited guest lamented the get-rich-quick propensities, especially among the NRIs, which are distorting our values and ethics to such an extent that Punjabiat has immensely suffered. The former spirit of cooperation and amity among village folks has given way to competitive ostentation. In their bid to copy the pseudo-western/urban lifestyle, people are discarding Punjabi language, literature and culture.

Similarly, Samwad (PTC News), moderated by Madandip Singh, news editor, writer and book reviewer, did a threat-and-opportunity evaluation of Punjabi language in the context of globalisation. The language and literature are certainly facing several challenges but there is no imminent threat to Punjabiat as such, concluded the two invitees — Dr Sutinder Singh Noor, vice president, Punjabi Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, and Sushil Dosanjh, Editor of Hun (Now), a literary magazine.

Samwad is a new talk show wherein, along with anchor Davinder Pal Singh, Madandip Singh would be analysing the Punjabi literary and cultural scene, reminding one of Punjabi Darpan telecast by DD National.

Who is the Badshah of Punjabi publishing world? Is it the writer who supposedly comes up with new ideas and acts like a beacon for society, the reader, who ultimately decides a book’s fate in the market-place, or the publisher who facilitates the interface between the writer and the reader? This poser exercised the minds of invited panellists on the sets of Khabarsaar (Zee Punjabi). Sushil Dosanjh and Prof SP Singh were emphatic that publishers were playing a negative role in the growth of Punjabi literature. They do not give the writers their due, and often are exploitative.

Publisher Harish Jain, on the other hand, rued the absence of a "sizeable readership". The question remains, however, if there are not many readers for Punjabi books, how is it that publishers are prospering? Contradicting himself, Jain claimed that his publishing house alone churns out 400 titles annually. If other publishers are turning out half as many titles respectively, the quantity of books published in Punjabi is certainly impressive; knowledgeable people assert that most of it is rubbish. However, books, like friends, should be good, even if few.

Vanity publishing is another bane of Punjabi literary scene. Since profit is the only motive for a publisher, he is least concerned with a book’s content quality, or relevance to societal needs. Obviously, the quality of literary output suffers. There is a need to remind ourselves of the late Scottish poet and essayist Thomas Carlyle’s remark: "A good book is the purest essence of a human soul." Worse, publishers of Punjabi books take zero market risk because the entire cost of publishing a book is borne by the writer.

Ideally, for a literary book to be successful, it should be an optimum mix of art and commerce. The give and take on Khabarsaar’s sets was interesting, but would such heated debates generate some light, ever?